Would you do it? --> Throw a match to win?

Discussion in 'Olympics LONDON 2012' started by Capnx, Aug 1, 2012.

  1. anthony_6

    anthony_6 Regular Member

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    i would do it as well. in this scenario it's not about individual, it's also playing the game in favour of their country. if they win it they would have to play their compatriots and only 1 of them could progress to finals. if by losing 1 game that is kind of pointless and yet both will still qualify and be in different bracket which means "if" they could win their following game, they will only meet in the finals, why not? afterall sports is about trophies and medals. by throwing this match, the country "might" win gold and silver medal. badminton is a sport where there are no substitution and country can send multiple team to participate in the same competition. they are all trained under one roof by the same person and paid for by the same government/association. they are teammates and i dont see anything wrong to lose for the benefit of their teammates and country.

    in a different scenario, "IF" i'm the top seed and have no fear of any opponent that comes to me. let's say i'm wxl/yy and all my compatriots have not qualified for the knockout stages. i would have played my best and try to win all the matches.
     
  2. chibe_K

    chibe_K Regular Member

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    I don't see anything wrong with throwing a match when doing it in a competition as isn't that part of a game plan. Or is there such a thing called game plan now. It is a natural survival instint for any competitive player to do that, I am sure you would and honestly I would. Why not. IOC, please give me a reason not to do that not to mention I am the one who is doing the labor while you are the spectator! What we need here is to recognize the fact that this is an un-avoidable behavior and then find ways to legitimate it and then to formalize it and then add it to the rules for the game. That way this becomes part of the game and every team is free to come to the court with a game plan!

    I think the issue here is not that "wow, the 8 players were bad, they fixed the game!!" Come on, lets face it. The issue here is what they did was too obvious, too awkward (for lack of better term), and humiliating to the organizer as for event of this magnitude, IOC the organizer could face class action lawsuits if the audience decided to get together and ask for refunds of their tickets and so on.

    Think of it this way, IOC is putting up a show for the general public and the tickets were priced with the promises and expectation that "hey, we will show you the best of badminton games, give me the money!". With these promises and expectation in mind, of course it is UNACCEPTABLE and EMBARASSING for IOC for what the 8 players did. I feel for the them, someone should have briefed them before coming to London that "girls, this is Olympics, don't mess with it, if you do, please do it politely and respectfully that make the audience feel their money worth every penny"

    Having said that, my conclusion, players were good at offering labor work but being ignorant of the political environment. Organizers were all about making sure the show continues in Brazil in 2016. BWF unfortunately is lost in the dark and failed to tell the true story and provide adequate guidance to its fellow members.

    We as spectators were pissed off....really I have been looking for the videos of the matches but could not find them. I would consider it a lucky day if I were one of the viewers that day at the arena as lets face it, you don't get to see this type of match very often. It may only come once in a life time!
     
  3. phili

    phili Regular Member

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    Hell no! No way
     
  4. CantSmashThis

    CantSmashThis Regular Member

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    I throw matches all the time (at regular gym play not tournaments). I am just smart enough to make it look like I'm trying and messing up. I would not serve into the net 20 times on purpose though.
     
  5. sen

    sen Regular Member

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    I think many people would now say they would not do it after seeing the effect of crowd booing and the negative publicity

    But before this incident, I must say if I really want a medal or a good chance to get a medal, I would use that strategy of not giving my best.
     
  6. kelana

    kelana Regular Member

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  7. twobeer

    twobeer Regular Member

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    Already done it in some small B/C-class tournaments many years ago!!

    Was a classification tournament with a player that was extremely strong. faced a team-mate in the group stage.. Did not push myself to win and get to the half of the strong opponent..really

    /Twobeer
     
    #27 twobeer, Aug 2, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2012
  8. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    Sometimes, you blindly advanced into the heart of enemy and place yourself in dis-advantage is not considred being brave, but rather stupid. If the best solution is to retreat, then go with it. You want to win at the end, but not randomly beef up the stats at the beginning.

    So, yes, I will do it, within the rule of the format.
     
  9. Wong8Egg

    Wong8Egg Regular Member

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    It is easy to say you "won't" as an individual. But keep in mind they are also playing for their respective nation. You are raise, train and sponsor by the country. Like a solider, you are taught to obey team order and play for the best interest of your country. Would you (and your partner) have the gut/power to disobey order? Can you face the consequence?

    To be honest to myself, I wouldn't want to do it, but I would have to.
     
  10. stevenni

    stevenni Regular Member

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    lol~~~
    it seems the prize for loosing is wayyyy more than winning the game.
     
  11. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    I will say, it is easy to say "won't" when we sit behind a PC, and acting like god or internet tough guy. It is easy to say "won't" when your own career is not on the line. It is easy to say "won't" when I am clearly never good enough to be on such stage to begin with.

    Besides the above, it's just hard to no to.
     
  12. sen

    sen Regular Member

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    Yeah, some players and ex-players also just say that they won't do it but I am not sure how many of them really will not do it
     
  13. stevenni

    stevenni Regular Member

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    Let's just say: the difference between Chinese national team players and other players is that they are not playing for themselves most of the time.
     
  14. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    I will not rob, if there's no bank in my town. I will not waste $$$, if there's none to begin with. I will not beat up anyone, when they are all stronger than me. That's what I call "CAN NOT DO IT".

    Then, if all the situation listed above all reversed (there's a bank, I do have a lot of $$$, I am the strong bully), then all the high moral "DO NOT DO IT" usually get throw out of the window within a fraction of a second...
     
  15. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    Sure, I would. I would do a better job of faking effort though, the way those women did it was like throwing the poor tournament format in the faces of the organizers.

    I remember this one tournament I played in 10 years ago, my friend and I were ranked 1-2 going into our final match against each other the round robin. Regardless of who won that one, we would face each other in the final. That was the silliest tournament game that I've ever played. If the bird was anywhere near the line, we would both let it drop because we were too lazy and wanted to save energy. No rallies past 3-4 shots, etc. I ended up losing 15-13. However, the joke was on me. Since the tournament was running a bit late, they decided to make that count as the final, so my friend ended up winning the tournament. I wasn't mad though, but it does demonstrate how normal it is for there to be pointless contests in the round robin format.
     
  16. twobeer

    twobeer Regular Member

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    This was exactly the case when the Japaneese WD team fased Taiwan. The Tawian girls really needed a win so that made it very easy for the Japaneese grils to fake it "better" as you suggest.. But if the other team, like the Koreans starts doing the same to you, upping the "loosing" ante.. then you CANNOT do it in an non-ugly manner I think..

    I think the Koreans did this both to get at better draw but also to make it clear for everyone that the other team is trowing the game.. I think they calculated that they could not be disqualified as long as they won anyway.

    But as i wrote before, I do not think it is defendable to do the silly acting regardless if they do it better or worse. the moral thing to do was just to be honest about it and just miss, keep a stoneface and excuse the expression "man up" and be honest about that you are indeed loosing by purpose, to get a better draw.
     
  17. kinetics

    kinetics Regular Member

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    I would do it. My goal is to win Gold, not a single match and if it places me in a better position to win, why not? Afterall, fan support is not going to help me if I fail to attain a medal and get kicked off the national squad.

    However that said, I wouldn't make it so obvious as the Korean, Chinese, and Indonesian doubles players did. It really was quite embarrassing to watch.

    I wonder though, if they purposefully did it in an obvious way, in order to protest the nonsensical format of the tournament to BWF. Maybe they wanted to make a statement.
     
  18. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    None, if one side wants to win, and the other wants to lose. Easy deal.

    It will be difficult and tricky, if both actually want to lose. Conflict of interests, just as difficult as both want to win.
     
  19. sjoe

    sjoe Regular Member

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    I will put it in the same situation as someone ask you to smuggle drug. Would you do it ? Just once !
    Big money! little risk (how many time that the custom officer has actually checked you luggage ?).
    If you have done it once you will likely to do it twice and next and next and will regret later.
     
  20. Capnx

    Capnx Regular Member

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    in this situation, your income and livelihood depends on throwing the match... in your example, is the same true? that your income and livelihood depends on smuggling drugs?
     

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